Thiruvananthapuram (The Hawk): An NIA team arrived here on Wednesday following violent protests against the impending Adani Vizhinjam Port.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team arrived despite the fact that there haven't been any untoward incidents in the past two days in the protest area surrounding the future Adani Vizhinjam Port building site.
The officials will speak with the police officers at the Vizhinjam Police station, which was looted by demonstrators on Sunday.
The NIA will reportedly look into any involvement of outside forces that aid the demonstrators.
The local demonstrators opposed to the construction of the port appear to be supported by the Latin Catholic church. The authorities estimate that Rs 85 crore was lost in the demonstrators' weekend rampage, and that 35 police officers and a number of protesters were hurt.
The police have filed proceedings against 3,000 persons as a result of the rampage, including the bishop of the Latin Church and several priests.
Although this project is envisioned as a game changer for the nation as a whole, not only for the economy of Kerala, as this may very well be the mother port.
It has been 136 days since the project's opposition began. Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, has been a strong advocate for the K-Rail project, which has now been shelved in the wake of significant protests, but he has been silent on the demonstrations.
In the final years of the Oommen Chandy administration, from 2011 to 2016, the port project was approved and construction got underway. The work was temporarily put on hold in 2017 after the Ockhi waves slammed the port site and caused significant damage.
(Inputs from Agencies)